Newsletter

Across Georgia

ATLANTA — A federal report shows Georgia had the sixth-largest number of illegal immigrants in the country in January 2011, months before lawmakers passed a tough law targeting illegal immigration.

The Department of Home­land Security report released Friday shows about 440,000 illegal immigrants lived in Georgia. Only California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois had larger illegal immigrant populations.

DHS estimates the total number of illegal immigrants in the country in January 2011 was 11.5 million, roughly the same as the year before.

Estimates from a year earlier, in January 2010, put the number of illegal immigrants in Georgia at 460,000. DHS cautioned against comparing the latest number with estimates from past years because of changes in the calculation method.

Gunman wounds officer in Atlanta

ATLANTA — Atlanta police say they’re continuing to search for a suspect after one of their officers was targeted by a gunman, and that no arrests have been made.

Police said Officer Dexter Toomer was targeted by a shooter firing from a rooftop in the city’s Little Five Points neighborhood Thursday night.

Toomer was leaving a restaurant and walking back to his car when he was wounded in the leg, police said. Investigators believe the shooter waited for the officer to get out of the restaurant, then fired six to seven shots.

Police Sgt. Curtis Daven­port said in an e-mail that Toomer is in “good spirits” and expects a full recovery.

An officer nearby heard the gunfire, rushed over to the fallen officer and radioed for help, police said.

High court declares phone search legal

ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that a Lowndes County sheriff’s investigator did not violate a woman’s rights when he retrieved data from her cellphone without a warrant.

The court upheld rulings by lower courts that the text messages of Haley Hawkins were admissible evidence because she gave Investigator Andrew Den­mark permission to search her car and purse, which contained her phone.

The justices wrote that law enforcement officers can search suspects’ vehicles and any containers inside believed to hold evidence relevant to the crime.

Denmark had posed as a drug dealer and texted with Hawkins about illegally buying sleeping pills. Because of that, the justices said, Denmark knew the woman’s phone contained evidence in the case.